Many of the 13 state-run ObamaCare exchanges are worried about how they’ll survive once federal dollars supporting them run dry next year….

“What is happening is states are figuring out the money is running out,” said Jim Wadleigh, the director of Connecticut’s exchange….

Umm, the law from its inception sunset the federal coin. To these panicking states one can only say “Duh.”

But a shared marketplace…has become an increasingly attractive option for states desperate to slash costs.

I get it – miserable loves company. But I’m not sure how taking two (or more) individual state failures and combining them – is a solution to anything.

Having the makers of the Chevrolet Corvair, the Edsal and the DeLorean combine forces doesn’t seem to be a winner. Multiple people who can’t swim desperately clutching at one another – just means they’ll all sink together.

It certainly won’t slash costs. Quite the opposite – there will be additional, huge expenses attending these states attempting their misery mergers.

By most accounts, creating a multi-state marketplace would be a logistical nightmare.

It’s unlikely that states could ever merge the full responsibilities of a marketplace, such as regulating plans and managing risk pools.

But even with a simpler model, like a shared call center or website platform, there are big questions about how states could share those costs and duties.

Jennifer Tolbert, a state health expert with the Kaiser Family Foundation, said “one of the trickiest issues” would be determining a governing structure for multi-state exchanges.

“I don’t know how that would be resolved,” she said.

Again, if none alone can get it together – how will their getting together help? Indeed, it won’t.

These hurdles have been big enough to thwart multiple states from moving forward with their plans. Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia, which commissioned a study on the option in June 2013, have all dropped the idea.

So why on Earth are any states still considering it?

It’s time for Congress to do what Congress before the last election promised it would do.